Rights organizations called on the United Nations on Monday, October 2, to examine Egypt’s human rights record, emphasizing that the Egyptian authorities’ extensive and organized practice of torture should be categorized as “a crime against humanity.” 

Egyptian authorities’ “widespread and systematic” use of torture is “a crime against humanity”, rights groups said Monday in an appeal to the United Nations to review Egypt’s rights record.

The report, submitted to the UN Committee against Torture, tracked the use of methods including “beatings, electrical shocks, sexual violence” and denial of access to medical care by members of the security services.

In November the UN committee will review Egypt’s record under the UN Convention against Torture.

Cairo has long been criticized for its rights record during the decade-long rule of President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi who oversaw a crackdown on dissent. Rights groups estimate the country has around 60,000 political prisoners.

Many of them, according to rights groups, have been subjected to brutal conditions in overcrowded cells and regularly mistreated by prison authorities.

Cairo has regularly denied torturing people in detention.

The United States has repeatedly criticized Egypt’s human rights record, accusing authorities of torture and “life-threatening prison conditions”.

Despite such persistent concerns, the administration of President Joe Biden last month approved most military aid to Cairo, in a total package which exceeds $1.2 billion and includes $235 million subject to human rights conditions imposed by Congress.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken, citing national security interests, waved those restrictions but withheld a separate $85 million over rights issues.

However, the new chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Commitee, Ben Cardin, threatened to block the military funding, in a move rights groups applauded on Sunday.

Cardin replaced Senator Bob Menendez, who on Wednesday pleaded not guilty in New York to bribery and extortion allegations involving the Egyptian government.

Khalil Wakim, with AFP